Profile: This past October, Sonny Gray exploded onto the national consciousness like a 96-mph fastball up and in on Torii Hunter. It's still hard to know exactly what that will do to his stock this spring. Most likely, he'll be a bit over-rated due to his excellent short-sample numbers last season and signature playoff start. Though his curve is excellent and his fastball 94+, his approach against lefties leaves something to be desired. The change is not good and the curve loses a lot of whiffs against opposite-handed hitters. But a little refinement in his approach could handle that -- big curves like his can still get grounders from lefties, he does have a cutter, and that four-seam gas might be enough. If others in your draft are looking too hard at his 2011 and 2012 numbers in the minor leagues, he may actually be under-rated. Yes, his strikeout rates disappeared those years, and his velocity took a dive too. But of his own admission, he was working on his mechanics those years. Once he returned to his natural mechanics -- with some refinement that stuck with him -- he was able to let it fly and gain the velocity back. Yes, it's too bad he doesn't have a changeup. He still plays in the coldest park in the league, and he has all the tools he needs for success. In the short term. We won't worry too much about his mechanics and stature with regards to his long-term prognosis. Pitchers are pitchers, after all. (Eno Sarris)

The Quick Opinion: It's worth watching Gray's approach against lefties in the Spring. It's all that holds him back from ace-dom, in real life and fantasy. He's got the gas and the signature weapon, he just needs a little more refinement in approach.

Profile: Gray doubts have been cleared up, go ahead and get Sonny Gray! In his first full season as a major leaguer, Gray was impressive in all facets. From starting 33 times to 219 innings pitched — both team highs — as well as an outstanding 55.9% ground ball rate. A shiny 3.08 ERA comes doesn't quite match his 3.56 SIERA, but even if he posts a mid-3's ERA, Gray is still a strong fantasy pitcher. He dispatches both left and right-handed hitters evenly, keeping both hitters below a .290 wOBA and above a 20% strikeout rate. Playing in his age-25 season, Gray is the de facto ace of the Oakland staff and figures to build on his 2014 success. He has made the jump from projectable prospect to strong fantasy starter. Don't count on Gray leading the league in strikeouts, though he is certainly no slouch there, tallying 186 K's last season, as he gets enough whiffs to get by but relies on his ground ball rate and defense to get hitters out.

The Quick Opinion: If Gray ends up being the first pitcher you take in your fantasy league you could be in a jam, but as a SP2, he shines. His mix of enough strikeouts, low home run rate and GB% make him a great fantasy option in the early-mid rounds.

Profile: There's a lot to like about Gray following his exceptional 2015 season: he now has two 200+ inning seasons under his belt, he posts elite ground ball rates, and he pitches half of his games in the spacious confines of the Oakland Coliseum. He has changed his pitch mix to find a true third offering, often adding significantly more horizontal movement and velocity onto his signature curveball to turn it into a hard slider that posts incredible whiff rates. With that mix, he's pitched to an excellent tenth-best ERA in the league since his debut. Now for the bad news: Gray has outperformed his defense-independent pitching statistics every year of his career, his strikeout minus walk rate is very average, and his batted ball breakdown points to a pitcher that has been lucky, rather than one who might be able to break FIP/xFIP by managing their amount of hard contact against. In short, we can't quite figure out what Gray has been doing to post such successful on-field results, and regression seems like it should be coming for him any day now. Perhaps Gray has found some secret sauce that we can't pinpoint, and two and a half seasons of results provide some evidence he might have -- but his peripherals aren't those of a perennial Cy Young candidate, and that is grounds for some skepticism. (Owen Watson)

The Quick Opinion: At the confluence of elite production and sometimes fortunate batted ball outcomes, the Cy Young Award lies. That was true for Sonny Gray in 2015, as he finished third in the voting due to a mix of excellent peripherals and a year in which he posted excellent batted ball luck. That isn't to say Gray isn't an exceptional pitcher -- he just shouldn't be expected to compete for the award every season. While he remains a great fantasy starting option for 2016, he's also probably going to be drafted at near Cy Young value -- which is far more than he's probably worth.

Profile: Gray seemed to establish himself in 2015 when he made his first All-Star team and finished third in American League Cy Young voting with a slightly improved version of his strong 2014. Riding high expectations, things did not go nearly as strong for the right-hander last year. Gray went 5-11 with a 5.69 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP, raising his career ERA from 2.88 to 3.42. The Tennessee native was hampered by arm issues, landing on the disabled list twice and making just 22 starts (117 innings total). Many will point to Gray’s poor luck in terms of batting average on balls in play (.319), which may go hand-in-hand with an Oakland defense that ranked last in a number of metrics. Additionally, 18% of the fly balls he allowed went for home runs, compared to just a 9% rate in his career before last year. While Gray is certainly not blameless when it comes to his troublesome numbers in ‘16, there are enough negative factors in play that one could certainly see a decent bounceback for the 27-year-old next year -- especially if he is once again fully healthy. That is already in doubt, though, as a lat strain will cost him Opening Day and could sideline him for the first few weeks of April. (Dylan Higgins)

The Quick Opinion: After a dynamite season in 2015, just about everything went wrong for Gray in ‘16. Although he may once again have a modest defense behind him next year, the 27-year-old certainly has the skills to turn things around, when healthy. Problem is he's already slated to start the season of the DL. He is a deep league consideration if DL spots are plentiful.